


Silt and Sand

by HauntedAutomaton



Series: Inspired by Art [8]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Fish out of Water, Fluff, Gen, New in Town, helping hand
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 16:57:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17564402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HauntedAutomaton/pseuds/HauntedAutomaton
Summary: With new gems arriving on Earth, some of them are bound to stand out. A Pearl who defies conventions needs some help from the Crystal Gems.





	Silt and Sand

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Tumblr user bookwormpride for the idea! She came up with a spectacular concept for a Pearl, and I just couldn't resist.

    The gem exchange program was going surprisingly well. Homeworld gems who had been corrupted, and woke to find themselves homesick, were getting the chance to return. Crucially, though, gems from Homeworld were getting the chance to come to Earth. Since the new heir to “Pink Diamond’s Colony” had forbidden gem production, he made the case to the other Diamonds that he needed all the gems he could get. Any who wanted to come to Earth were welcome.

    And come they did.

    Among them, was a ‘flawed’ Pearl. Facet 734, Cabochon-J3. Only a few centuries ago, she had almost been recycled and harvested. Resource scarcity though, meant that you couldn’t just request a new Pearl whenever you wanted, so the Almandine commander she served ‘made do’. Always demanding a perfectly pristine work environment. When the call came up for gems to volunteer for the Earth colony, she never looked back.

    “Welcome, welcome, everyone!” called a white Pearl from the head of the beach. “If any of you came to Earth looking to help out with the new gem colony, you can come speak to Bismuth over by the warp pad. She-oh!” Nearly all of the new arrivals streamed toward the blacksmith.

    “Well, alright then!” The Earth-Pearl continued. “Yes, it seems like a lot of you are eager to get to work right away! Here on Earth we don’t have to work constantly, but I suppose this will all be a bit of a culture shock to you. We’ll take this one step at a time, shall we?”

    After a few more moments of orientation, not the least of which was a few gems getting used to taking instruction from a Bismuth, they all warped off to one of the new northern colonies. All except one, that is.

    “Ah, not bad for a first introductio-oh!” one Pearl noticed another. “Hello, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you at first! Welcome to Earth!”

    The flawed Pearl kept silent with her hands clasped in front of her. Her uniform was militaristic and simple, with only a bit of frill at the collar. Her skin was tinged off-white with some ‘impurity’ that Peridot could no doubt name on sight. Her gem sat on her left shoulder, marred by grooved rings and filled with spots of grit, preventing it from being perfectly round.

    Pearl’s smile fell. “I know this will take some getting used to.” She stepped alongside her fellow gem, not touching her, but standing with her in solidarity. “But I can assure you, you’ll like it here.”

    The beige Pearl finally spoke, almost with a stage whisper. “I won’t be that useful for a colony, I’m afraid.”

    “Well first of all,” the taller Pearl began to lead her along to walk down the beach, “you don’t have to be. Secondly, I’m willing to bet you’ll find yourself to be very ‘ _ useful _ ’ at a lot of things if you want to be.”

    “I don’t…have to be useful?”

    Pearl had yet to encounter this attitude in a Homeworld gem before. “Not at all! You can just be here if you like. There are some rules, but you don’t have to work on the colony if you don’t want to.”

    The newcomer seemed to take a bit to process this. While she did she continued to walk along the shore, more than a little absentminded. She strayed a little close to the ocean’s edge, and particularly enthusiastic wave sloshed over her feet.

    “Ah!” Pearl squawked, offering to steer her away from the water. “Sorry about that, the Earth  _ can _ be a bit, well, a lot dirty. That was the biggest thing I had to deal with when I first got here, I mean, I love this planet, but it’s basically  _ made _ of dirt.” She gave a polite laugh, but noticed that the new Pearl wasn’t moving.

    She was instead staring at her feet, as another wave washed over them and piled little mounds of silt around the edges. She suddenly looked up to the Earth Pearl. “Oh! Sorry. Go on,” she spoke a little less quietly as she quickly stepped away from the water.

    Pearl’s face was bemused, not quite sure what to make of the newcomer, but glad she was opening up. “Do you think you might like it here?” she asked.

    “I hope so.” the beige Pearl replied. “I heard from some of the others that this is the place you go to when you’re flawed.”

    Pearl stopped for a moment. “This is the place you go to find out you were never flawed.”

Hearing this, the new Pearl let a little smile creep onto her face. It was quickly replaced by a flash of fear, and then an averted gaze, however, when she saw a trio of gems coming towards them down the beach.

    “Hey P! You got a newbie?” called a peculiarly short Amethyst guard.

    “Welcome to Earth.” said a strange commander gem, who the new Pearl realized, was a fusion.

    “Hi! My name’s Steven!” shouted what was apparently a ‘Steven.’

    ‘Wait,’ thought the new Pearl.

    “My Diamond!” she cried, saluting.

    The boy sighed. “No Diamond, just Steven.”

    “Right,” she thought for a moment, “My Steven.”

    Amethyst snickered, while Garnet took the Pearl’s hand. “Don’t worry, you’ll find your place soon enough.”

    “Hey new Pearl!” Amethyst said. “Watch this!” She dumped a handful of wet sand into Steven’s hair.

    “Pthbpbp! Hey, you!” Steven called back, and began to gather up silty ammo for retaliation.

    “Amethyst!” Pearl scolded. “She’s still used to rigid authority, you’re going to break her! Not to mention make Steven track a whole beach into the house-”

    Pearl was cut short, however, by a giggle from the newcomer.

    “See, she gets it!”

    WHUMP

    Amethyst was overtaken by a glob of sand from Steven. She jumped up, and shook herself off with a big toothy grin. Her form, made of light, shed all of the grit and silt in an instant. Steven’s shirt and jeans, however, weren’t so lucky.

    “What…” the new Pearl asked, and then again a little less quietly, “what are those things?” She pointed to Steven’s body.

    “These are my clothes,” he explained, trying to use a shield to fend off Amethyst. “I can’t make clothes with my mind, so I wear them.”

    “Can…can gems wear clothes?”

    “Sure!” Steven said. Garnet nodded in agreement.

    “Oh!” Pearl peeped. “If you like clothes, I think I have something you might enjoy!” With a flourish, she whipped a pair of jeans and a jacket out of her gem. “Here you are!”

    The new Pearl could barely contain herself, eyes welling up. “These are for…me?”

    “Yes!” said Pearl. “Do with them whatever you want. These are your things now.”

    The beige Pearl’s smile only grew. She began to stamp her feet with giddy energy, and then, in a sudden flurry, began to shred the jeans.

    Pearl’s, warm, motherly smile disappeared into a slightly horrified confusion, but the shredding continued.

    Soon, the long jeans were frayed capris with patches missing, and the leather jacket had its sleeves ripped off.

    Amethyst whooped and cheered at the surprising display of strength and destruction.

    In another moment, the new Pearl was on the ground, rolling around in her grungy torn clothes. The wet sand rubbing into the frays of the denim, and the sopping silt covering her once curly hair. When she jumped up again she was a new gem.

    “WOOO!”

    Amethyst joined in the hollering, and Steven cheered them on. “Yeah, get down new P!” The purple gem shouted.

    “Indeed…” Pearl said weakly, but with a smile. “I’m glad you can find your place here…even if it is…so…sandy…”

    “Wait!” Steven called to the shouting pair of gritty gems. “Sandy! How do you like that?”

    “What?” the new Pearl said. “My name?”

    “If you want one,” Steven offered.

    “Yeah,” Amethyst interjected. “You can have any name you want, but Sandy’s a great name! Just look at you, you’re a ‘Sandy’ all over!”

    The Pearl looked a little worried. “Because of my…off color?”

    “Pshh!” said Amethyst, “More like because of your ‘on-color’.”

    Relieved, the new gem grinned, then smiled, then beamed. She shook her hair out, sending sand everywhere, and letting her hair fall flat against her face. “Yeah! I’m Sandy alright!”

    The lot of them started running back to the temple to introduce Sandy to more of what Earth has to offer, with Pearl trailing behind, begging them all to at least wash their shoes. Her exasperated smile could be heard across the bay.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed something in particular about this, or thought of something that might work better in a spot or two, please let me know! I'm trying to get better, so all comments/criticisms welcome. I'd love to hear from you!


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